Within Lakota Woman, by Mary Crow Dog, a Lakota woman speaks of her story about growing up in the 60s and 70s and shares the details of the difficulties she and many other Native Americans had to face throughout this time period. Although Native Americans encountered numerous challenges throughout the mid twentieth century, they were not the only ethnic group which was discriminated against; African Americans and other minority groups also had to endure similar calamities. In order to try to gain equality and eliminate the discrimination they faced, such groups differed with their inclusion or exclusion of violence.
The goals of the Native Americans in the 60s and 70s were similar to those of the other groups during that time. Gaining equality
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Such students differ from the minority groups of Native Americans or African Americans in that they were not so much fighting because they were being discriminated against, but more because they wanted to change what was at that time “the norm.” The civil rights movement was created around this time, and many individuals were beginning to find a voice. African Americans and Native Americans were protesting in order to gain equality and their rights, as opposed to fighting for political reasons. Yet, some of the students at this time were beginning to change their views and believed that it was time for racial equality to exist. Primarily, students formed organizations and clubs, protesting peacefully on their campus and within the college towns to get their beliefs across to others. However, as it became apparent that peaceful protests did not have a big enough impact, as a result of the Vietnam war, the most extreme activists argued that only violent protests would lead to real social change. The Weathermen, a revolutionary group which formed in 1969, proposed an armed struggle to overthrow the U.S. government. This group of radicalists were responsible for a number of bombings during the late 1960s and 1970s. Though the majority of students in America during the sixties and seventies did not face the same racial …show more content…
African American’s still are thought to be discriminated against by law enforcement, according to recent scenarios which have occurred. For example, Eric Garner was seen to have been physically abused by police and many of the public believe this is because he was African American. Though racism is less common today, it is still relevant and apparent in society. Violence is still used by both individuals and law enforcement, as well as as a form of protest in some circumstances. Though there is still some violent-protests present today, for humanitarian reasons this form of protesting has become less common throughout all of the ethnic
During the American Indian Movement, many Native Americans tribes came together as a unit and fought against the injustices that were thrust upon them by American governmental polices. The fact that many Native people were ?whitemanized? through Christianity and other things that such as boarding school played a role in shaping Native peoples identity. However, the involvement in the American Indian Movement shaped the identity of Mary Crow Dog by making her accept who she was ?an Indian woman, and by making her more willing to fight for the rights of Native Americans.
In the words of Ross, her focus and goal for writing this book was to write “…about the racialized and gendered experiences of incarceration, with a focus on Native American women and the loss of sovereignty as it is implicitly tied to Native criminality…” because there was little information on this subject. This means that Ross studied wo...
Lives for Native Americans on reservations have never quite been easy. There are many struggles that most outsiders are completely oblivious about. In her book The Roundhouse, Louise Erdrich brings those problems to light. She gives her readers a feel of what it is like to be Native American by illustrating the struggles through the life of Joe, a 13-year-old Native American boy living on a North Dakota reservation. This book explores an avenue of advocacy against social injustices. The most observable plight Joe suffers is figuring out how to deal with the injustice acted against his mother, which has caused strife within his entire family and within himself.
These stories have a continued overlapping influence in American Fiction and have remained a part of the American imagination; causing Americans to not trust Native Americans and treat them as they were not human just like African Americans. In conclusion to all these articles, Mary Rowlandson and John Smith set the perception for Native Americans due to their Captivity Narratives.
In Lakota Woman, Mary Crow Dog argues that in the 1970’s, the American Indian Movement used protests and militancy to improve their visibility in mainstream Anglo American society in an effort to secure sovereignty for all "full blood" American Indians in spite of generational gender, power, and financial conflicts on the reservations. When reading this book, one can see that this is indeed the case. The struggles these people underwent in their daily lives on the reservation eventually became too much, and the American Indian Movement was born. AIM, as we will see through several examples, made their case known to the people of the United States, and militancy ultimately became necessary in order to do so. "Some people loved AIM, some hated it, but nobody ignored it" (Crow Dog, 74).
Mary Crow Dogs experiences she shared in her autobiography explain the two opposite roles Indian women played during this time. She also shared that Indians wanted old traditions back, but ultimately some old traditions could not be restored. Finally she also explained how the Americans partially succeeded in assimilating the Indians although they didn’t want to. Because of the Americans attempt to assimilate the Indians, gender roles and some traditions had changed which affected the Indian lifestyles that AIM tried to get back.
In the early 1990’s in Los Angeles, California, police brutally was considered a norm in African Americans neighborhoods. News coverage ignores the facts of how African ...
Many people claim that racism no longer exists; however, the minorities’ struggle with injustice is ubiquitous. Since there is a mass incarceration of African Americans, it is believed that African Americans are the cause of the severe increase of crimes. This belief has been sent out implicitly by the ruling class through the media. The media send out coded messages that are framed in abstract neutral language that play on white resentment that targets minorities. Disproportionate arrest is the result of racial disparities in the criminal justice system rather than disproportion in offenders. The disparities in the sentencing procedure are ascribed to racial discrimination. Because police officers are also biased, people of color are more likely to be investigated than whites. Police officers practice racial profiling to arrest African Americans under situations when they would not arrest white suspects, and they are more likely to stop African Americans and see them as suspicious (Alexander 150-176). In the “Anything Can Happen With Police Around”: Urban Youth Evaluate Strategies of Surveillance in Public Places,” Michelle Fine and her comrades were inspired to conduct a survey over one of the major social issues - how authority figures use a person’s racial identity as a key factor in determining how to enforce laws and how the surveillance is problematic in public space. Fine believes it is critical to draw attention to the reality in why African Americans are being arrested at a much higher rate. This article reflects the ongoing racial issue by focusing on the injustice in treatment by police officers and the youth of color who are victims. This article is successful in being persuasive about the ongoing racial iss...
Police brutality has been an apparent mark on the struggles, trials, and tribulations of people of minorities for years, primarily Black people. From the times of slavery to the present unlawful targeting and murders of black citizens with no justification, police brutality has been an enema in Black American culture for hundreds of years. Seen both in James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man” and in the current happenings of the United States. The hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter” has been a focal point in the current struggle for equality of the races. The current outpouring of support for black lives and
In 2014, the death of Eric Garner in New York City raised controversial conversations and highlighted the issues of race, crime, and policing in neighborhoods that tend to be poor and racially isolated. Garner, an unarmed black man, was killed after being tackled and held in a “chokehold.” According to the AP Polls in December 2014, “Police killings of unarmed blacks were the most important news stories of 2014.” The problem is that young black men are targeted by police officers in which they have responded with the misuse of force and policy brutality. It is evident that this issue affects many people nationwide. The civilians do not trust the police department and the justice system because they hold the perceptions that police officers are immune from prosecution despite their actions. In particular, black individuals, specifically black males, do not feel safe in the presence of police officers because they are not held accountable for their mistakes.
Discrimination was a tremendous concern in the nineteenth century, as slavery was still in place, and Native Americans were being moved across the country. Mark Twain’s book, Adventures of Huckleberry Film, consisted of a main character who faced discrimination due to the fact that he was a black slave. Not only was discrimination against Blacks prominent, so was discrimination towards Native Americans as depicted in Kevin Costner’s film Dances With Wolves. It is important to look at the experiences of the people within these examples to grasp a better understanding of discrimination in the nineteenth century. Minorities were thought of as inferior to white people, but experience with these people changed the way they were viewed, which led to Whites believing that minorities were just as equal.
Officers are trained and taught different polices that require them not to be biased towards any gender or race. Such officers include Sunil Dutta, if you don’t want to get shot, tasted pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you.” (Dutta) uses policies to their advantage. Lack of African-American officers, mainly in communities with citizens of color, can lead to an inquiry that there is a bias in law enforcement agencies and their policies. With recent events in the news displaying the misconduct of officers in an African-American communities like, in July of 2014, where the death of Eric Garner because of “chokehold” by a police officer hit home for many African-Americans and made them question the legislative decisions on policies causing a distrust and lack of confidence within the police departments, shying away citizens from
All men are created equal (Declaration of Independence). Yet, the Native Americans continue their fight for decades since colonization. There is a constant struggle to urge for equality from William Apess in his 1833 essay, An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man. In modern day, the fight continues after his lifetime. Equality and freedom is the goal for most Native Americans. Although securing the rights of the Native Americans are progressing, it is slow. Therefore, the inequality continues at a faster pace, as opposed to major changes that would impact the Native Americans positively. Throughout history, they are exploited for their land and natural resources and severely underfunded. As a matter of fact, the common theme seems to be that the Native Americans are continuously suppressed by the “superior race”, which showcases the prevalent thoughts in America. William Apess and
Protests around the world have taken place to fight for justice in the black community. The immense number of deaths of unarmed black men and women is a clear sign that they are more likely to be killed by police than white people. Physical violence and excessive use of force by the U.S. police towards African Americans are seen in the news regularly. “People, including police officers, hold strong implicit associations between blacks, and probably Hispanics, and weapons, crime and aggression," said Jack Glaser. Police brutality statistics show that African Americans are three times more likely to be murdered by cops than any other race. Racial disparity in the United States is a coherent reason for the increase of criminal injustice in the United
The daily news networks have a new headline about riots or violence almost every month. Recently, several riots broke out in Ferguson, Missouri due to Michael Brown, an unarmed, African American teenager being shot and killed by a white police officer. A copious group of people lashed out and began fighting for what they believe in. Sadly, the riot spread to more places than Ferguson. BBC News in Ferguson states, “thousands of people also protested in other US cities, from Los Angeles to New York” (BBC News). Unfortunately, countless people get killed or greatly injured during these riots. Riots are utilized in a negative manner. In fact, an abundance of riots derive from situations between the police and young, intercity black males. According to Jake Halpern: “During the past year, a series of police killings of African-Americans across the country has inspired grief, outrage, protest, and acrimonious debate. For many Americans, this discussion, though painful, has been essential” (Halpern). While the officer was sure Brown was attempting to grab his gun, it was considered a racial conflict. The officer’s initial instinct was this because of the negative stereotype intercity African Americans are portrayed as; regardless, this does not make the incident acceptable. Minorities committed a number of crimes before and after the unfortunate events that occurred in